Tag Archives: platform

“Console guys are running scared,” says Will Wright in an interview over on Games Industry. In the interview Will is asked for his thoughts on cloud gaming, to which he replies,

Will Wright: I think that is going to be the future. People have so many devices they carry around. They have their tablets, their smartphones, their PC at home, their Xbox – I think that having a game that’s accessible on all these devices at any time is going to be much more sticky than something you have to go home and play on your PC or only play on your iPhone. I think in that general sense, it’s going to hit a much broader group of players than dedicated games.

I couldn’t agree more!

Play anywhere on anything against everyone using a single persistent account. With all the gaming devices we’re surrounded by and ubiquitous network access connecting them all together it’s surprising how no game has yet to achieve this goal. There have been a couple of near-hits like Buddy Rush; though these offer a single login and gameplay across multiple platforms they don’t offer simultaneous multiplayer. This last feature is (in my opinion) a sort of holy grail which has the potential to unite gamers across all platforms and devices inside shared persistent worlds.

Cross platform real-time multiplayer links together what were once the separate islands of iOS, Android and web into a single mass community. This will improve player acquisition and retention – and help make marketing dollars spent on a single product more effective across all platforms and devices. It should also result in more engaged (happy) users who are no longer blocked by platform/device barriers when wanting to engage with their friends in the cloud.

This goal has been Spicy’s focus since we left the world of AAA console titles and entered into the F2P, online market. This week I’m happy to announce our first (and I believe the world’s first) truly cross-platform/device game launch with “Crazy Fairies: One World“.

We’ll launch CF into Closed Beta the week of July 16th. If you’re interested in checking it out, head over to the website, register and jump right in! About a month after the launch of the web/online version we’ll publish mobile versions for iOS and Android devices. And as soon as we get our hands on the latest Unity tech you should expect to see an Ubuntu build as well!

After a whole entire WEEK of waiting, Episode 3 is here at last! Amazing how that works, isn’t it? And, best of all, many new game play elements are featured in this episode. See how that works? Ask and you shall receive! “The Fisherman and his Wife” features power-ups, more challenging platform gameplay, and some pretty wicked dark transformations. It’s also one of my favorite “Grimm” tales so far – everyone gets what they deserve in the end!

Best of all, this Episode, like all the others, is FREE TO PLAY for the first 24 HOURS! So head over to GameTap and get it while it’s fresh! If you happen to miss the 24 hour free play window, you can always purchase the episode in stand-alone form, either from GameTap or other digital download portals.

Check out the Fisherman and his Wife Episode Page.
For those of you unable to access GameTap, you can buy Grimm episodes via alternate digital download site, such as TryGames.com Again, Grimm IS coming to other digital download site soon. Just a few more days!

Finally, a question for all the hardcore gamers and hardcore writers: Do you realize Grimm is a casual game? Despite the fact it was developed with UE3, it isn’t targeted at people who’ve been waiting for the next “Gears of War” or “Halo”. When you state it’s “nothing more” than an interactive story, I think, “well, yeah?” Our design focus was: #1 Narrative, #2 Art, #3 Gameplay. And that’s not to say gameplay is last – just not #1 (the “focus list” goes beyond #3).

Maybe that sounds “wrong” or at least odd? Well, maybe everything about Grimm is a little different or odd. That’s part of the point. Certain elements of the game are purposefully experimental. And the beauty of episodic is that we can listen to feedback and implement it in upcoming episodes. If you want to be critical of the game, go right ahead. But imagine for once that your criticism could be constructive. The game is still evolving. It isn’t locked in a box. You didn’t buy it off a shelf. And for the most part, you didn’t buy it at all. You have 24 hours to play it for FREE, comment on it, and maybe even make it better!

Do yourself and other gamers a favor: contribute something. It’s harder than destroying something – especially when you call yourself “destructoid”. And if destroying is all you’re about, and the act of destroying stuff IN Grimm isn’t appealing to you, then go back to fragging space aliens. We still have 20 episodes of innovating, experimenting, and evolving to do. I wouldn’t want you to wear yourself out – remember this is episodic, this is something different.